Handmade Love

February 17, 2014

I had originally planned to try to work on my new quilt some each day, the way that I did with the last one that I made. That worked out well; the piecing work never felt overwhelming and I developed a rhythm with it that gradually built until the top was all of a sudden finished.

But there is a lot going on here these days. Work on the book. The kids and I moving from one house to another. I started a new teaching job the end of last week and now it is school vacation for the big kid. So, not so much with the quilting and the knitting and the other non-required activities.

Just a little bit here and a little bit there, when the pace of things slows enough to allow it.

January 16, 2014

If I were going to write a book about quilting,* it would be called something like The Lazy Girl's Guide to Making Quilts and Stuff. It would be about two pages long, and both of them would be dedicated to detailing the dangers of rotary cutters. Because I'm pretty sure that the rest is all just unimportant details. Right?

January 13, 2014

As I slowly dip my toes back in the waters of blogland, I'm finding that I am getting an ever so slightly increasing number of emails wondering just where the next issue of Alphabet Glue might be hiding out. The answer is, of course, in my brain. And a little bit on my harddrive. But you all have been sweet enough to wonder (thank you for that!) and so I thought I should return the favor by offering a little update.

With this fall and winter having so very much to offer in the Big Life Changes Department, I have to admit that my inspiration for things like whimsical science experimentation and paper folding took a bit of a hit. But a new routine is beginning to take shape, and I found myself missing the creative work of putting the magazine together every couple of months. Knowing that there are still going to be a fair number of ups and downs in daily life around here, I felt ill prepared to do much of anything on my own and asked Dawn if she might be willing to help me knock out Volume Sixteen of Alphabet Glue. She said she would indeed. And thank goodness- because she is my own personal taskmaster and we are now on track to have a great new issue ready for you all very soon. I'm hoping it will be ready for launch in about a week.

I'll keep you all posted, and in the meantime, I hope that you will accept my true and honest gratitude for letting me know that you'd like to see another issue of The Glue land on your virtual doorsteps. It means quite something. Really.

January 08, 2014

I have been a painfully intermittent knitter of late. Which is not to say that I have been knitting much, because I actually have, but in fits and starts that lead to things like forgetting where I am in a decrease row, neccesitating painfully slow fixes if I am to continue on. I suspect maybe some of you know how this goes?

I seem to be settling into my realization that I should really just stick to socks and mittens for the next little while. Or maybe little sweaters for little people. I'm still a bit discouraged by the fact that I spent so much time knitting my Tea Leaves only to have it be way too big. I guess it is all a lesson in being a process oriented (as opposed to product oriented) maker of things?This is something I could use some work on, I suppose, so I'll try my best to embrace the learning, however marginally painful it may be.

November 06, 2013

Well, I can finally say that my Tea Leaves has one finished sleeve. There were some hiccups here, primarily related to misreading the pattern and subsequently knitting the sleeve cuff in reverse stockinette, instead of garter. Oh, and that bit where I ran out of yarn on the bind off row. There was also that. I guess I am an optimist at heart, eh? I really thought I could make it.

Of course, once you have a finished sleeve, one always feels like it would be nice to try the sweater on and start visualizing what it will be like when it is finally finished. So I did this. And, for better or worse, I started this thing when I was about a year post-baby Z. Baby Z. is now toddler Z. and between the benefits of time and running about 20 miles a week... Yep. I think that the sweater might be too big.

What is it that Elizabeth Zimmermann said about mittens? Yeah. That. I think I need to go back to mittens.

October 07, 2013

Good Monday, all! It was a busy weekend, and I have high hopes for toddler napping and couch knitting in the next little while here, but I did want to poke my head in to let you all know that Volume Fifteen of Alphabet Glue is officially available.

This newest installment is full of all kinds of good stuff related to the height of autumn and the coming of cooler weather and shorter days. You will find fun projects and printables on such themes as natural history, weather science, and bringing the outdoors in as the seasons shift.

Hop on over to the shiny new Volume Fifteen page on the Alphabet Glue site to find out more about this issue, to get a sneak peek at some of the projects, and to download a copy of your own!

Already know that you're all in? You can also download the new issue using the button below:

September 27, 2013

As it turns out, not so very much got done this week. Between Dan working truly insane hours at the hospital and both kids being sick, it just seemed wise to let a few things go and circle the proverbial wagons in an effort to stay sane instead. And, here is Friday. Hello. I guess that means we made it.

I did want to share a couple of things before heading into the weekend, though. The first is that I have a new post up on the Sparkle Stories blog. On one of the days that she was home from school this week, Mariam and I spent some time adapting the baking soda clay recipe from the 2013 Summer Science Special so that it could be used to make paintable charms. You can find the instructions here.

Also, to celebrate the fact that all things are going swimmingly over at the new blog, Dawn and I are hosting a fun giveaway. To get the details (and to enter) visit today's post.

Alright, then. Off to try to problem solve the fact that the dog ate one of the toddler's only serviceable shoes this morning while I was upstairs and not being adequately vigilant.

September 11, 2013

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is just what I get for feeling all smug about my ability to joyfully knit away with skinny yarn on tiny needles. Yep. I am referring to the realization that I only thought that I had gotten the right gauge with the size two needles I was using for my handwarmers. In fact, I was off. Consistently off over many, many rows of striping. By the time that I had knit six or so inches of handwarmer, I realized that they were quickly beginning to look like something that would fit a person with much larger and more industrious hands. Like maybe a giant carpenter or something.

(If you are thinking, at this moment, that the knitting for giants problem has come up here in the past, then you are both correct and in possession of a stellar memory!)

Indeed, this business of not realizing just how many needle sizes I need to come down to accomodate my tight and tiny stitch habit seems to come back to bite me repeatedly. And yet, I never seem to learn my lesson. That fact alone is some sort of mini-marvel.

So, with much frogging and digging around for size one needles now under my belt, I'm going to see about knitting some handwarmers.

September 04, 2013

Despite my very best intentions, my wicked case of knitting ADD has struck again. Half way through the sleeves on my Tea Leaves cardi, I suddenly find myself knitting a pair of fingerless gloves. Funny how that happens. Like, every time. But, I tell myself, we have been taking a lot of short road trips to various places along the Eastern Seaboard these last couple of weeks, and no one wants to sit on a sandy beach with a mostly finished sweater draped across their lap. So, a tiny project is just the thing.

And, I realize, that tiny projects really are my favorite. I actually like to knit adult sized socks out of fingering weight yarn suspended on super tiny needles. I also like to knit many mittens, one after another. Cuffs, thumb gussets and all. I feel that this bit of personal insight is likely to serve me well. It is, afterall, considerably less expensive to knit a pair of mittens than it is an adult sized sweater. So maybe after these fingerless gloves and Z.'s sweater (and yes, finishing my Tea Leaves- pinky swear), I will knit mittens for the world.

June 19, 2013

I should begin by saying a thank you to everyone who left encouraging commentary last week on the idea of redoing the bind-off on my crewneck sweater. Weirdly enough, the box containing that sweater hasn't surfaced in the unpacking process just yet, but when it does, I think I will indeed summon my courage and fix it right up. Or at least try.

In the meantime, I continue to work along the bottom edge of my Tea Leaves at a preternaturally slow pace. I'm close, actually, to binding off the bottom of this sweater as well, but I keep making the mistake of doing late evening knitting. After a full day of dog chasing and baby wrangling and house organizing, late evening knitting is the ultimate recipe for disaster. So, my biggest accomplishment for this week thus far? Learning how to pick up dropped stitches in garter.

In my defense, I must say that I have not historically been a stitch dropper. But something about the hem of this project has been causing me to drop stitches like crazy and then not realize it for eight or so rows. I had tried on a couple of previous stitch dropping occasions to dutifully pick up my dropped stitches, but really struggled with the garter, and kept making things so much worse that it ended up being better to frog back to the end of the body section of the sweater. But then, yesterday morning, I finally figured it out. The process is a little persnickety, and I wouldn't suggest doing it for row and rows and rows exactly, but it is definitely better than frogging a dozen rows of sweater width stitching. Goodness.

So, I may not have figured out where to keep anyone's shoes, or managed to unpack any of the boxes piled up in Mariam's room. But I did get something done. That is the official party line anyway.

Yarning along with Ginny today. Oh, and speaking of Ginny, check out her post from yesterday to download a free project PDF from the latest issue of Alphabet Glue, and to find a coupon code good for 20% off all this week. Good stuff for summer!

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